Epistemology

In philosophy, epistemology refers to a Theory of knowledge, a theory of how human beings come to have knowledge of the world around them—of how we know what we know. Epistemology provides a philosophical grounding for establishing what kinds of knowledge are possible and for deciding how knowledge can be judged as being both adequate and legitimate. In the social sciences, the term is used in the context of deciding which scientific procedures produce reliable social scientific knowledge.

Two theories of knowledge have predominated in philosophical discourse since the scientific revolution in the 17th century: rationalism (represented by René Descartes, GottfriedLeibniz, andBenedictdeSpinoza) and empiricism (represented by John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume). The concern was to find a secure foundation for scientific knowledge and to distinguish this from belief and prejudice. Rationalism is based on the idea that reliable knowledge is derived from the use of “pure” reason, from establishing indisputable axioms and then using formal logic to arrive at conclusions. From this point of view, mathematics produces such knowledge. Empiricism, on the other hand, relies on the use of the human senses to produce reliable knowledge. This means that knowledge of the world can be obtained only through direct sense-experience.

In the context of the social sciences, these philosophical positions can be further elaborated in terms of two dominant epistemological positions and their associated ontological positions (see ontology). In the first epistemological position, known as nominalism, the concepts that are used in description and explanation are simply regarded as convenient, collective names that are invented as summaries of the general categories of things that have been observed, such as “social actors” or “social groups.” These collectivities should neither be confused with reality itself nor attributed with the capacity to act; reality is made up of events, and only individuals can act. In the second epistemological position, known as realism, scientific concepts are viewed as revealing something about social reality that is not necessarily observable. Such concepts are designed to penetrate beyond observable [Page 310]events to a reality that underlies and explains them (see also CRITICAL REALISM).

When nominalism and realism are combined with the two major alternative ontological positions, materialism and idealism, a four-way classification scheme is generated. Empiricism combines a materialist ontology (see IDEALISM) with a nominalist epistemology, substantialism combines a materialist ontology with a realist epistemology, subjectivism combines an idealist ontology with a nominalist epistemology, and rationalism combines an idealist ontology with a realist epistemology (Johnson, Dandeker, & Ashworth, 1984).

In empiricism, reality is viewed as being constituted of material things that can be observed by the use of the human senses. Concepts and generalizations are shorthand summaries based on many observations. Substantialism also adopts a materialist view of reality but accepts that people in different times and places can interpret reality differently. Nevertheless, the material world is seen to constrain human actions and social relations. Because subjectivism rejects the notion of a material world and views reality as being socially constructed and interpreted, knowledge of this reality is available only from the accounts that social actors can give of it. Finally, rationalism views reality as both real and general; it exists independently of people, their consciousness, and their circumstances. Because this reality is made up of ideas, knowledge of it can be obtained only by examining thought process, the innate ideas shared by human beings—in short, the structure of mind itself. These four positions must be regarded as ideal types, between which there are inherent tensions (Johnson et al., 1984). They are associated with the major philosophies of social SCIENCE. Empiricism is associated with POSITIVISM and FALSIFICATIONISM, substantialism is associated with CRITICAL REALISM, and subjectivism is associated with INTERPRETIVISM. Rationalism can be found in Emile Durkheim’s work on suicide but is now uncommon in the social sciences.

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